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Texas BBQ of the future? A new BBQ joint in Houston that blew me away…

Late last week, I headed down to Clear Lake about 30 minutes south of Houston where I ate lunch at the recently opened Pappas Delta Blues Smokehouse with Houston Chronicle bbq columnist J.C. Reid. He and I were tasting that day with the new venue’s resident smoker to determine which smoked meats he wanted to present at our THE ULTIMATE WINE PAIRING: TEXAS BBQ AND LAMBRUSCO seminar and tasting on Monday, March 5 (at the Slow Wine/Taste of Italy festival at the Hilton Post Oak).

I have to say: I was totally blown away by how good the food was there.

That’s the pork belly, above.

BBQ has evolved rapidly since I moved to Texas 10 years ago. When I first got here, people didn’t line up at 6 a.m. to get a slice of highly allocated bbq. And Instagram — believe it or not — was still two years away!

Today the profane has become the sacred: what was once a folksy DIY Texas tradition has now become the realm of hipsters, a brand new “extreme sport” of cooking and consumption.

In my view, Pappas Delta Blues Smokehouse is the next generation of Texas bbq. It’s a genuine restaurant, with a menu that includes entries beyond bbq and all the amenities of a fine dining spot (waitstaff, full bar, hefty beer selection, kid menu etc.). It even has a wine list! Although it’s not the first to have a wine program, I had never seen such a thoughtful selection, including a Lambrusco, my favorite wine to pair with smoked meats (and the subject of our March 5 seminar).